Internship at the King Library – Week 2

On Monday, June 8, I met with Diana at 10:30 am and we discussed an aspect of academic librarianship that we hadn’t before. In addition to the four areas of reference, information literacy, collection development, and liaison work, Diana discussed with me the duties of an academic librarian at SJSU to contribute to scholarly literature and maintain active involvement in the professional community. For example, Diana’s own professional involvement has included serving as President of the Chinese American Library Association, one of the five ethnic affiliates of the ALA.  For another example, as a trustee of the Mineta Transportation Institute (MTI), a research institute at the SJSU College of Business, Diana was reading grant proposals and research associate applications to prepare for a meeting at MTI the next day.

At 11 am, Diana accompanied me and some newly hired staff librarians on a tour of the library’s special collections on the fifth floor of the library. Danelle Moon, the director of special collections, led the tour, which was fascinating. I enjoyed going “behind the scenes” and seeing the staff offices and storage areas behind the SJSU special collection reading room.  It struck me that temperatures were kept very cold in some of the rooms with rare, delicate material. I also noted with interest that SJSU maintains a collection of pop-up books.

We also went to the library’s Center for Beethoven Studies, where we were afforded a view of the famous lock of Beethoven’s hair, and the Center for Steinbeck Studies, where we were given a look at the manuscript for the Long Valley and treated to anecdotes from Steinbeck’s life, such as the time Hemingway broke a cane Steinbeck had given to another novelist over his own head (Steinbeck had not been pleased!). John Steinbeck is one of my favorite authors, so I really enjoyed this section of the tour and wished I could stay all day.

After a lunch break, I met again with Diana and we discussed virtual reference. For about half and hour, I observed a librarian staff the virtual chat service that the library’s personnel help to run. Unfortunately, I did not observe a question come in to her during this time frame.  Demand for reference services slows down considerably during the summer time when the academic year is not in full swing. However, I did get to look at some interesting transcripts from earlier sessions where librarians answered (or attempted to answer) patron questions, and was shown some resources that will be useful to understanding best practices in delivering virtual reference.

The day at the library ended with a training session in Room 213, a modern, technology-equipped classroom in the library. The session focused on how to use SMART Boards, which are computerized, interactive whiteboards, and quite a few of the SJSU librarians attended.

On Thursday, June 11, I was able to leave my full-time job for a few hours to attend a training session on GOBI, Web-based software used for collection development services. It was good to get exposure to this software, which seems to be heavily used by SJSU librarians. I was given a login so I could explore the GOBI software at home as well.

At home this week, I also was given a login to the librarian side of questionpoint.org so was able to familiarize myself more with patron questions and librarian responses in virtual reference. Diana said I can start answering some questions when I get comfortable. I remember seeng a list of commonly asked questions of King Library personnel when I was observing the virtual reference desk last Monday, and one thing I want to do is get a copy of this list and familiarize myself with it before I try my hand at answering questions – but I should be ready soon!

I did various readings at home this week on the subject of virtual reference, including reviewing the RUSA (Reference and User Services Association) guidelines for virtual reference, and various publications Diana cited, including  a 2005 article from Library Journal: “Virtual Reference: Alive & Well” by Bailey-Hainier, and a 2005 talk by Linda Berube: “Can I Help? Virtual reference service in the UK.” Both publications encouraged the continued practice of virtual reference services against arguments that such services are underused and overcostly. Bailey-Hainer suggests that chat services can be provided in a cost-effective manner if a group of libraries, such as across one state, cooperate with each other to deliver the services, and that it is a way to reach out to people who don’t normally use library services. Both authors emphasize the important part virtual reference may play in providing library services to today’s youth, who are very wired, and, as Berube quotes from the OCLC  Environmental Scan:

“Today’s digital kids think of information oxygen: they expect it. It’s what they breatheICT To meet, play, date and learn. It’s an  in how they acknowledge each other and form more, ICT to some degree has been supply
their first web search and surf years ago.”

Other activites we have planned include observing the public library’s business library at the physical reference desk (on June 22) and helping library staff out at an SJSU Freshman orientation (July 20).